Once we took a left and got on to “The Walk,” I pretty much knew why people throng to this place. It’s essentially Dubai’s ‘Exhibition Road’ (a once very popular stretch in Bahrain where traffic moves slowly and people, well, come to show off — among other things).

The Walk is part of Jumeirah Group’s massive property by Jumeirah beach. Lined along the stretch are shops, restaurants, hotels and the Jumeirah residences.

We finally managed to get a parking spot and while there were the usual luxury brands, given this is Dubai, one really needs something too rare to really stand out from the crowd.

And whoever was the owner of this Batmobile-esque Mercedes McLaren SLR, surely had it!

Freakin’ sweet. A supercar indeed!

Jumeirah Beach ResidencesThe (not so great) beach

After watching the sun set, we went back to the parking lot.

Before you ask… yes, petrol is cheap out here

Since it was time sunset prayer, Azhad and Jassim made their way to the prayer hall like good muslims, while I waited out looking at the slow moving traffic.

After prayers, we moved on.

Passing through Jumeirah Residences

Big elevators for big people and their big cars (not Azhad)

Jassim told me that we needed to crossed over to the other side as he wanted to show me something. I didn’t really know what or why but I figured it would be more buildings.

It was buildings alright…. but I never expected this!

Panorama consisting of 7 shots

Beautiful.

I really wasn’t expecting a sight like this in, of all the places, Dubai. I was looking forward to seeing all this when I go to Singapore in September and in Hong Kong next year, but in the middle of a freaking desert? Wow.

Now I get what Dubai Marina is all about. It’s like the guys at Emaar Properties (the same folks behind Burj Khalifa) visited Marina Bay in Singapore and Hong Kong’s Kowloon Bay and went: “Hmmm, very bretty… very nice… we like… we want also.* ”

And then came back, spent a few billion, dug out a lot of sand and half a decade later — voila!

The steps we came down from (Jumeirah residences in the background)Azhad talking away

Private yachts can be rented for cruise partiesWe went up to take a walk across the bridge

We crossed the bridge road over to the other side

After being mighty impressed with the world’s largest man-made marina, we headed back to ‘show-off boulevard’.

Back at the The Walk

We set off into town and made our way to the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the venue for tonight’s David Guetta’s concert.

Kinda looks like New York’s Chrysler building — but of course Dubai had to out-do NY, so they made two!The Rotana Tower Hotel

Upon reaching the venue, we figured we still had some time to enter so we decided to do dinner. Jassim parked his car near Emirates Towers and we made our way to Nando’s.

They have these ‘space stations’ (a.k.a Metro stations) all over the place

Trying to take photos while on the travelator

The trains have no driver by the way — it’s all automaticWhat I ate at Nando’s

Me and Jassim had a good meal, Azhad didn’t 🙂 … and wanted to get home quick!

So after seeing our friend off at the metro, me and Jassim went back to the car to get ready for ‘the party’.

Emirates Towers in the distanceAnd there she is in the distance

After finding a parking spot, we walked towards to the concert hall where there were a lot of guys with heavily waxed hair and girls with heavily waxed skins.

And boy were we glad we bought our tickets well in advance! The show was sold out and many were around seeking extra tickets. We got in around 11pm where an opening DJ was was warming up the crowd.

The man himself didn’t hit the stage until 1am. And just when he was about to… disappointment. My Nokia E72 with the 5 mega-pixel camera dies out on me. All I’m left with is my mom’s basic 2mpx Nokia and even that was low on battery.

Sorry, but these grainy photos are all I have. (Some are from my friend Jassim’s iPhone)

This is when he hit the stage

Grainy photos won’t do the concert justice, so just watch this if you want to know what the atmosphere was like:

To sum in up in one word: AWESOME! This was one of the best concerts I have been to. The crowd was insane! Over 10,000 people packed into one massive hall. And I would so pay to see David Guetta live again!

David Guetta left the stage exactly at 3am, the time when all of Dubai has to shut off it’s loud music and stop the sale of liqour.

The tired crowd making their way out of the exhibition centerThe (very) long queue for taxis

By the time we reached the car, our legs were tired as hell! This was one packed-evening/night/dawn. I saw a lot, ate a lot and danced a lot.

3 Comments

Daniel

11/11/2012

Hi there,
I stumbled upon your blog looking for info about the Dubai area and took time to read all of the posts relating to it, great work you did 🙂
I read in this one you say ‘the (not so great) beach’ in regard to the Jumeirah seaside, was it ’cause there are better ones down there?
(In the meantime I’ll bookmark your blog without asking your prior consent, cause I’m a gentleman.) (…) :°D

Mithun Divakaran Reply:November 11th, 2012 at 3:54 PM

Thank you Dan, or if I may so, Sir Daniel 🙂

It was not so great because the sand was coarse and not soft enough to walk barefoot on. From what my friends tell me, the beach near the Burj Al Arab is better.